Publisher :
Place of publication :
Publication year : 2007
Thematic : Marine Resources
Language : English
Note
Sea level rise (SLR) due to climate change is a serious global threat: The scientific
evidence is now overwhelming. Continued growth of greenhouse gas emissions and
associated global warming could well promote SLR of 1m-3m in this century, and
unexpectedly rapid breakup of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets might
produce a 5m SLR. In this paper, we have assessed the consequences of continued
SLR for 84 developing countries. Geographic Information System (GIS) software has
been used to overlay the best available, spatially-disaggregated global data on critical
impact elements (land, population, agriculture, urban extent, wetlands, and GDP) with
the inundation zones projected for 1-5m SLR. Our results reveal that hundreds of
millions of people in the developing world are likely to be displaced by SLR within this
century; and accompanying economic and ecological damage will be severe for many.
At the country level, results are extremely skewed, with severe impacts limited to a
relatively small number of countries. For these countries (e.g., Vietnam, A.R. of Egypt,
and The Bahamas), however, the consequences of SLR are potentially catastrophic.
For many others, including some of the largest (e.g., China), the absolute magnitudes of
potential impacts are very large. At the other extreme, many developing countries
experience limited impacts. Among regions, East Asia and Middle East/North Africa
exhibit the greatest relative impacts. To date, there is little evidence that the
international community has seriously considered the implications of SLR for population
location and infrastructure planning in developing countries. We hope that the
information provided in this paper will encourage immediate planning for adaptation.
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Keywords : Cyclocorus nuchalis
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
